Normative data of the Finnish version of Hypomanic Personality Scale

1
Normative data of the Finnish version of
Hypomanic Personality Scale
Jouko Miettunen, MPhil, MSc Department of
Psychiatry University of Oulu Finland
Kuopio, June 17th 2004
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Hypomania

• episodic, speeded state resembling mania, but
  lacking its intensity or duration
• Hypomanic personality
• Individuals with hypomanic personality are
• cheerful, exuberant, optimistic, extraverted,
  tireless and self-confident
• but they are also
• irritable, overbearing, reckless and
  irresponsible
• Hypomanic personality is thought to be a risk
  factor for manic and major depressive episodes

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Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS)

• 48 items (true/false), for example
• There are often times when I am so restless that
  it is impossible for me to sit still.
• There have often been times when I had such an
  excess of energy that I felt little need to sleep
  at night.
• There are so many fields I could succeed in that
  it seems a shame to have to pick one.
• I seem to be a person whose mood goes up and down
  easily.
• I can't imagine that anyone would ever write a
  book about my life. (keyed false)

Eckblad Chapman (1986) Development and
validation of a scale for hypomanic personality.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 214-222.
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Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort

• 12058 children born in regions of Oulu and
  Lapland
• the 31-year follow-up survey
• subjects living in regions of Oulu and Lapland,
  and in Helsinki area were invited to clinical
  examination (N8465)
• postal questionnaire including HPS filled in at
  home (N5999)
• HPS was filled in without missing items by 4661
  subjects
• Representative sample, most previous samples have
  included only students

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Hypomanic Personality Scalenormative studies on
adults
U.K. (1)
mean
19.88
Males 25-29y
20.03
Females 25-29y
15.09
Males 30-39y
17.70
Females 30-39y
...
score
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
0
(1) Rawlings et al. 2000
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Education and hypomania
45
40
35
30
25
20
Hypomanic Personality Scale score
15
12.7
11.3
10.7
10
5
0
1256
2999
404
N
Tertiary
Secondary
Primary
Educational level 1997
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Conclusions

• Preliminary results in this Finnish data set show
  low scores on the HPS scale compared to previous
  studies
• There is a comparable finding of low incidence of
  mania in Finland
• Females scored higher in the HPS
• People with lower level of education scored
  higher in the HPS

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Study group

• Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu
• (Matti Isohanni, Liisa Kantojärvi, Juha T
  Karvonen, Kristian Läksy,
• Jouko Miettunen, Juha Veijola)
• Tampere School of Public Health, University of
  Tampere (Matti Joukamaa)
• National Public Health Institute, Helsinki (Leena
  Palotie)
• Imperial College London, UK Dept of Public
  Health, University of Oulu (Marjo-Riitta
  Järvelin)
• UCLA, Los Angeles, USA (Nelson Freimer)
• Columbia University, New York, USA (Jesper
  Ekelund)
• University of Bonn, Germany (Dirk Lichtermann)

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References

• Claridge et al. (1996) The factor structure of
  schizotypal traits A large replication study.
  British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 35,
  103-115.
• Eckblad Chapman (1986) Development and
  validation of a scale for hypomanic personality.
  Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 214-222.
• Meyer Hautzinger (2003) Screening for bipolar
  disorders using the Hypomanic Personality Scale.
  Journal of Affective Disorders, 75, 149-154.
• Rawlings et al. (2000) A factor analytic study of
  the Hypomanic Personality Scale in British,
  Spanish and Australian samples. Pers Individ Dif,
  28, 73-84.